Margot McKinnon

Pilates and movement specialist, founder and president of Body Harmonics Studios/Clinics in downtown Toronto.

Margot McKinnon (B.Ed., M.Ed.) is a Pilates and movement specialist dedicated to helping train teachers and the general public to move with ease and integrity. The Body Harmonics approach is science-driven and based on meeting people’s true needs. Over the last two decades Margot has become a leader in her field, developing an international Teacher Training program, 3 Specialist programs for movement educators and 45 continuing education workshops. She also presents at international conferences annually and teaches across Canada, in Europe and Brazil. She has been featured in Canadian Living Magazine and is the founder and president of Body Harmonics Studios/Clinics in downtown Toronto. Margot is passionate about helping people move well, teach well and be well, cultivating confident and competent teachers that have subsequently helped thousands of people transform their lives and careers through Body Harmonics’ unique whole-person approach to movement, health and well-being.

Whether mild, severe or chronic, back pain affects almost everyone. According to Statistics Canada, four out of five adults will experience an episode of back pain at some point in their life. However, this does not have to mean that we are destined to live in pain.

In a fitness culture that still toes the "bigger, faster, farther and heavier is better" line, many of us end up pushing ourselves far beyond what is necessary to achieve functional strength, often risking injury to do so. How can we evolve our mindset to optimize our exercise routine?

As surely as gyms and fitness studios will be packed with newly motivated men and women every January, they will have cleared out come March. The typical 8-12 week motivation drop-off is a well-documented phenomenon. So if you have made a resolution to get healthy and fit this year and you are already losing steam don't worry, you are not alone.

Regardless of how you might spend time at your desk, both sitting and standing can cause aches, pains, fatigue and discomfort after a long time, simply because you are not moving. Sitting creates immense pressure on your disks and vertebrae -- it's a very demanding position for your spine to sustain!